Mintimer Shaymiyev has held a meeting on promoting the nomination of the Kazan Federal University Astronomical Observatories in the UNESCO World Heritage List
On 17 February in the Kazan Kremlin, the Tatarstan State Counselor Mintimer Shaymiyev, who is also the Chairman of the Guardian Council of the Regional Revival Fund and the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, held a meeting on promoting the nomination of the Kazan Federal University Astronomical Observatories in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Shaymiyev began his speech by congratulating the Fund with its 12th birthday and said that during these years more than 50 historical monuments were preserved and restored, nearly two dozens of important facilities were constructed, 28 unique museums were established and tourist, engineering and transport infrastructures of Bolgar and Sviyazhsk were developed
“Our special achievement is that we managed to inscribe Bolgar and Sviyazhsk into the UNESCO World Heritage List. Nobody in Russia was able to do this before – we are the only region in the country where there are three sites with outstanding universal value” – he said.
“Currently we are solving the task that is new not only for us but for the whole of the country – that of promoting the nomination of the Kazan Federal University Astronomical Observatories in the UNESCO World Heritage List It is a new phenomenon as never before have there been nominations related to science in Russia. In December 2020 the nomination was included into the Preliminary UNESCO List from the Russian Federation, on 1 February 2022 the nomination dossier was submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Center and now we are expecting the next important stage of hosting the UNESCO Consultative mission as we did when working with Bolgar and Sviyazhsk nominations”, Shaymiyev informed.
He said that promotion of this nomination is especially important within the coming 45th session of the UNESO World Heritage Committee which will be held in Kazan in June of the current year.
Ambassador-at large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze, who joined the meeting online, congratulated its participants with the 12th birthday of the Revival Fund and said: “During the years of large scale work under the leadership of Mintimer Shaymiyev, the republic has achieved really unprecedented results in preservation and promotion of cultural and historical heritage at the international level. Today we are happy to continue our active collaboration with the Revival Fund in preservation and studies of the astronomy heritage of Tatarstan.
Deputy Director of the Foreign Relation Institute of the Kazan Federal University Rafael Valeev, Rector of the University Dmitriy Tayurskiy, Head of the Zelenodosk region of the republic Mikhail Afanasyev and the Chairman of the regional Committee on protection of the cultural sites Ivan Guschin told the participants of the meeting about the work done during the preparation and promotion of the nomination dossier.
The Member of the Russian State Duma Tatyana Larionova, the Executive Director of the Revival Fund Zulfiya Sungatullina, Deputy Head of the State Counselor’s Office Oleg Glebov and other officials also took part in the meeting.